self until the moment of his mature character. Thus far, he conducted him. self like a wary adventurer. But his succeeding movements were far from raising this suspicion. He, neither like an adventurer forced himself on opportunity, nor even calmly waited its approach. If it was the first concern of JESUS to win to himself a numerous party, the method that he took, though at first successful, discovered a total ig norance of human nature, and left a blemish which marks a half character : For it is a blemish in a great man to lend himself to half of the community, in despair of gaining the whole.

THE first adventure of Jesus, though perfectly consistent with the

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future tenor of his life, has no parallel. So extraordinary is it, that had it been related of any other person, it must have disappeared, long since, among a thousand other fleeting fictions, or at most have preserved itself in some repository like the Arabian Nights. lone, friendless, and meanly clad, unassuming, and destitute of every means of inducement except that mysterious expression, Jesus meets two fishermen, brothers, busy with their nets. In all probability they had never seen him before, had never heard of him, and knew nothing of the man, or of his designs. Possibly they were young men in the rich enjoyment of domestic happiness; probably they were poor men, to whose daily industry a helpless, affec

tionate family looked for daily support. Perhaps they were desperate in their circumstances, of careless life, of abandoned principles, and ready for any adventure. Yet JESUS made them no promises; he awakened no passion; he applied himself neither to their ambition, nor to their avarice; no, nor to their love of pleasure, to such men the passion most present. He neither discovered his designs, nor tempted their curiosity. "Follow "Follow me," said he, "and I will make you fishers of men." In a moment, without hesitation, sooner than reason could dictate a resolution, all was deserted; in a moment, this world, in their estimation, had dwindled to a point, a new scene opened to their imaginations, which though ap

parently as unsubstantial as a moonbeam, turned the future current of their lives. Yet they fared hard, were generally despised as a new kind of vagabonds, and never forsook him, until, become dubious of heaven and earth, they saw the man arrested, and led like a felon to a death more ignominious than that of the gibbet. All this is no miracle; but to me it is a miracle. It is a miracle in human nature, and therefore less liable to suspicion, than a wrought miracle in the natural world.

THUS this extraordinary man, in a chance walk by the sea of Gallilee, beckoned to two fishermen, and in a moment, fixed them forever in his interest. With Mahomet, it was a labor

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of three years, to gain fourteen prose lytes; and Mahomet possessed all those attributes of man which are capable of winning an enemy, or of commanding a friend: Before Mahomet spoke, says tradition, he was in possession of his audience. His presence charmed them, his gracious smile won them, his ma jestic aspect commanded them, his pierc ing eyes fixed them, while his countenance painted every sensation of his soul, and his gestures enforced every expression of his tongue. Yet Mahomet,faithless of his eloquence, and doubtful of his success, soon as he collected a few partizans, furnished himself with a sword, and proclaimed himself a captain. JESUS CHRIST, on the contrary, when most famous and success.